In Feng City, it was a local custom for every household to hang mugwort for the Dragon Boat Festival, so there were always a lot of buyers.
Sales were always very good.
The mugwort itself cost next to nothing. It was either cultivated or harvested from the wild, so the only real expense was labor.
Selling them for just a few dimes a stalk was very profitable.
As soon as a stall was set up, many people would come to choose some to take back and hang on their doors to ward off evil spirits.
Some people could sell several hundred bunches in a single day.
Moreover, there was a saying about hanging mugwort: "three days before and four days after." This meant it could be hung during the three days leading up to the Dragon Boat Festival and the four days following it. All in all, this meant one could sell mugwort for eight days and make eight days' worth of money.
Of course, business was best on the day of the festival itself.
